Going from Standard to Compact Gearing (help)

[Roar]

I think I need to swap from my current standard to compact gearing. (I just went on my first group ride in some hills and was just dying.) Anyhoo, I am trying to understand what sort of investment this is going to be.

I have been reading some of the old threads about gearing and at the moment, I am thinking about 50/34 up front and 12/27 on the back.

At first, I naively thought that the rings could just be swapped out on the front.. but then I realized I would need a whole new crankset.

I called my LBS and they basically said I would need a WHOLE NEW groupset. Shifters, everything.

Really???? Really? That's EXPENSIVE.

I have Campy Record 10 speed on there now. The current new stuff is 11 speed. Fine. If that's the case, I can see how I might need a whole new groupset.

However, I think I could find a replacement (10 speed) crankset etc on ebay and take it to the LBS and have them swap it out.

However, when I suggested this to the LBS, they said they were fine with this, but I would still need a whole new groupset...

Is this true? If I swap out the front for 50/34 and the back to 12/27, this will mean that my current shifters, front and rear derailleur, etc ALL have to changed? I thought I was going to be able to get away with only swapping the cranks up front and the rear cassette...

Thanks for your input---clearly, I am a total newbie on this stuff.